Comparison

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Because every portal follows the same fifteen-section outline, the comparison is genuinely like-for-like rather than a collage of whatever each government happens to publish.

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Comparison of selected legal systems
Attribute	ParaguayReviewed	ZambiaReviewed	MadagascarReviewed
Legal family	Civil law	English common law with customary law	French civil law with customary law
System of government	Unitary presidential republic	Presidential republic	Semi-presidential republic
Constitution	Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay	Constitution of Zambia	Constitution of the Fourth Republic
In force since	1992	1991	2010
Capital	Asunción	Lusaka	Antananarivo
Official languages	Spanish, Guaraní	English	Malagasy, French
Currency	Paraguayan guaraní (PYG)	Zambian kwacha (ZMW)	Malagasy ariary (MGA)
Population	6,900,000	20,600,000	30,300,000
Division of powers	Unitary with seventeen departments and the capital district, each with an elected governor and departmental board holding administrative and limited fiscal competence. Legislative power is national.	Unitary with ten provinces and decentralised district councils. Chiefs administer customary land through the House of Chiefs, which advises on matters of custom and tradition.	Unitary with a decentralised structure of 23 regions and communes. Successive constitutions have promised fuller decentralisation, including provincial autonomy, which has not been implemented.
How law is made	Bills may start in either chamber and must pass both. The President may object in whole or part; Congress overcomes an objection by absolute majority in both chambers. Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of each chamber and ratification by referendum; wholesale reform requires a constituent assembly.	Bills are published in the Gazette, read three times in the National Assembly with committee scrutiny, and presented for presidential assent. Constitutional amendments require two-thirds of the membership, and amendments touching the bill of rights or the sovereignty provisions additionally require a national referendum — the reason several attempted rights reforms have stalled.	Bills originate with the government or members of either chamber, are examined in committee, and must pass both the National Assembly and the Senate; the Assembly prevails on disagreement. The Haute Cour Constitutionnelle may review a law before promulgation, and organic laws must be referred to it as a matter of course.
Legal profession	A law degree and registration of the title with the Supreme Court, which maintains the roll and exercises discipline. Bar membership is voluntary. Because both Spanish and Guaraní are official, courts must provide interpretation, and practitioners outside Asunción are commonly bilingual.	A fused profession of practitioners admitted after a law degree and the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education programme, regulated by the Law Association of Zambia; senior practitioners may be appointed State Counsel.	Avocats admitted to the Ordre des avocats de Madagascar after a law degree and professional training, alongside notaires for authenticated instruments and huissiers for service and enforcement — the standard French division of functions.

A comparison table flattens nuance by design. Where a difference matters to a decision you are making, open both portals and read the section in full — the constitutional detail behind a one-line summary is often the part that governs the outcome.